AUGUST 2020 | ENGINEBUILDERmag.com 21
other little things the guy wanted while we were in the engine. We also fixed a stud in
the deck surface. Somebody at one time, put a heli-coil in and this stud was leaning at
about a 10-degree angle. Somebody had to beat the heck out of it in order to get the head
on. That was one of the other reasons we got the engine because someone messed that
up. When I had the block all stripped down, we put it up in one of our Haas machines and
made an insert to go in there to eliminate the heli-coil and took it back to the original
thread and made sure it was straight up and down.”
The ‘29 Duesenberg engine got washed down before the shop put it back together,
but all-in-all, the engine was in good condition for being 91 years old.
“I have never seen an engine before that looked like it was a Swiss watch,” DeBates
admits. “The lower timing chain on it – it’s got two timing chains – drives all the lower
stuff and the other is up top. It’s a dual overhead cam motor. The chains are like 3 ̋ wide.
The crankshaft is completely polished and it’s just a beautiful piece to work on.
“It’s a straight eight-cylinder engine that I believe is 420 cid. It puts out 285
horsepower. That was non-supercharged. The supercharged one, which came out
in ‘30 or ‘31, was 320 horse. At 285 horse, that was the most powerful engine up untilTHE ORIGINAL GREEN OIL.
®
GREEN OIL.®
GREEN OIL.OFTEN COPIED, OFTEN COPIED,
NEVER DUPLICATED.NEVER DUPLICATED.
PENNGRADE1.COM
FORMERLY:
NEW PACKAGE.
SAME FORMULATION.
PENN GRADE
20-22 eb.aug20 EOTW.indd 21 8/7/20 8:33 AM
Naresh Jariwala